Selective recovery of minerals by flotation

Abstract

A method of recovering a target mineral from an ore containing the target mineral and an iron sulphide mineral comprising the steps of: a) grinding the ore to liberate target mineral from the iron sulphide mineral; b) forming a pulp of said ore; c) selecting a collector having the structure as follows: X—R—Y where R is a branched or straight chain hydrophobic hydrocarbon or polyether chain, and X and Y represent metal coordinating functional groups, d) add the collector to the pulp at a concentration at which the target mineral is able to be floated in preference to the iron sulphide mineral; and e) subjecting the pulp to froth flotation. The metal coordinating sulphur based functional groups may be identical or different.

1. A method of selectively recovering a target sulphide mineral from an ore containing the target sulphide mineral and an iron sulphide gangue mineral comprising the steps of:
 a) grinding the ore to liberate target mineral from the iron sulphide gangue mineral; 
 b) forming a pulp of said ore; 
 c) selecting a collector having two different hydrophilic functional head groups and a hydrophobic molecular chain of optimum length between the head groups; 
 d) the hydrophilic functional head groups being selected from the group consisting of xanthates and dithiocarbamates, and wherein one hydrophilic functional head group is xanthate and the second hydrophilic functional head group is dithiocarbamate; 
 e) adding the collector at a concentration at which the target mineral can be floated in preference to the iron sulphide material; and 
 f) subjecting the pulp to froth flotation. 
 
   
   
     2. The method of  claim 1  wherein the hydrophobic chain between the two functional head groups has a molecular chain length of 2–6 carbon atoms. 
   
   
     3. The method of  claim 1  wherein the hydrophobic chain between the two functional head groups has a molecular chain length of 2–4 carbon atoms. 
   
   
     4. The method of  claim 1  wherein the hydrophobic molecular chain is straight, branched, or aromatic. 
   
   
     5. The method of  claim 1  wherein the hydrophobic molecular chain is a straight chain hydrocarbon. 
   
   
     6. The method of  claim 1  wherein the target mineral is selected from the group of copper, nickel, lead and zinc based sulphide minerals. 
   
   
     7. The method of  claim 1  wherein step (e) is preceded by the step of adjusting the pH to a level where flotation selectively of said target material is maximized. 
   
   
     8. A method of selectively recovering a target sulphide mineral from an ore containing the target sulphide mineral and an iron sulphide mineral comprising the steps of:
 a) grinding the ore to liberate target mineral from the iron sulphide gangue mineral; 
 b) forming a pulp of said ore; 
 c) selecting a collector having the structure as follows:
   X—R—Y 
 
 where R is a branched or straight chain hydrophobic hydrocarbon or polyether chain, and the group -X is a xanthate and the group -Y is a dithiocarbamate; 
 d) adding the collector to the pulp at a concentration at which the target mineral is able to be floated in preference to the iron sulphide mineral; and 
 e) subjecting the pulp to froth flotation. 
 
   
   
     9. The method of  claim 8  wherein step d) is preceded by the step of adjusting pH to a level where the selectivity for the target mineral is maximized. 
   
   
     10. The method of  claim 8  wherein R is a 2–4 molecule straight chain hydrocarbon. 
   
   
     11. The method of  claim 8  wherein the target mineral is selected from the group of copper, nickel, lead and zinc based sulphide minerals.